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Circumcision

I’m going to start by saying that I’m not sure who reads my blogs, but this blog has to do with male infant circumcision, and it may not interest all of you. I’m going to be blunt, so if you don’t want to read all about what to do with infant penises, you needn’t read on. You won’t be missing any updates on family, I just need a place to rant about this because part of my job as a childbirth educator is to educate on this topic, and over the last few days I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about it.

How should Christians think about this?

When I was first confronted with this topic, instead of starting with the scienctific evidence for or against circumcision, I started by looking to God and His Word. To me, this carries more weight than the studies that may or may not be disproven in a few years.

We all know that God made a covenant with Abraham and it was shown with the sign of circumcision. Throughout the Old Testament, the Israelite males were circumcised as a sign of this covenant. Babies were circumcised on the 8th day. Jews still practice this today. In the New Testament it was made abundantly clear that there was no longer any requirment to circumcise for Christians. Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Christians therefore have no religious obligation to circumcise. Ultimately, this leaves the choice wide open.

My questions regarding circumcision then, had to do with what is healthiest. I know that God often commanded certain things for a myriad of reasons. Even though circumcision was primarily symbolic, it could have had other benefits as well. I can’t read God’s mind and it isn’t stated in Scripture, but I’ve postulated that one of the reasons could have been hygenic. Hygene seems to be a big topic now when circumcision is debated, so it’s reasonable. When Israel was wandering in the desert for forty years, they didn’t have bathtubs and running water the way we do today. Maybe being circumcised had a health benefit, in addition to all of the symbolism it provided. Following that logic, I thought that either clean running water negated that need, or that circumcision could still have hygenic benifits today. I wondered about this until James came across information regarding how the Israelites were circumcised during Bible times. How had never crossed my mind before. This is where it gets interesting… Let me walk you through this.

First, if you think you can stomach it, watch this vidoe of an infant being circumcised. Pay attention to the sterile environment, experienced hands, and all of the special surgical tools that are used http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/circumcision-video.html Or read and look at pictures here: http://www.circumcisionquotes.com/description.html Now, think about Abraham and all of his descendents. Did they have that environment and all the equipment? How on earth were they supposed to acheive a circumcision like we are accustumed to today? Wouldn’t you assume that the orginial circumcision of Abraham and his descendents was much…simpler? Well, it turns out that the circumcision of Abraham, and even that of Jesus was completely different! Here is an excerpt from an article describing the type of circumcision given throughout the Bible:

The original Biblical circumcision of Abraham’s time was a relatively minor ritual circumcision procedure in which only the redundant end of the foreskin extending beyond the tip of the glans was removed. This was called “Milah”. Following “Milah”…, especially when flaccid, and the glans would appear as uncircumcised. There would be minimal loss of sensitivity or intended protection.

The article goes on to describe a more invasive circumcision that started around 140 AD:

After performing “milah”, the cutting back of the end of the infant’s foreskin, a second step, periah was then performed.

The article gets very discriptive here. Basically it explains the procedure that removes all of the foreskin instead of just the tip, like it is done in circumcisions today. Why the change? The article reads:

This is a much more radical form of circumcision. It was dictated by man, and is not the biblical commanded circumcision rite. Its introduction has a bizarre history. The rabbinate sought to put an end to the practice of youths desiring to appear uncircumcised by stretching the remaining foreskin for social economic benefits and for sports competitions. By introducing the painful and debilitating “Periah” they would obliterate the foreskin completely such that proper circumcised Jew could not disguise “the seal of the covenant”.

So man, not God, introduced the current way of circumcision! It was a form of legalism to make sure that Jews couldn’t pass as Gentiles! Just in case he would try to cover up the fact that he was a Jew when he was older, baby boys were being scarred in a painful and unhealthy way at 8 days old! This is what convinced me not to support circumcision as it is performed today.

I highly encourage you to read the whole article here: http://www.cirp.org/library/history/peron2/ In all of my searching, I found this article foundational to how I view circumcision as a Christian. By looking up the words ‘Milah’ and ‘Periah’ on a search engine, you can find out more about the history of circumcision. (Just a note to the ladies, I was very careful in my searches, I always included the word ‘infant’ and the computer was set on ‘moderate to safe’ searches. I had no problem staying away from pictures I didn’t want to see. While I was out of the room, James just got on the computer to look up something about the difference between ‘milah’ and ‘periah’ and within seconds he had pictures up and told me to stay out. So be careful!)

This new information about Biblical circumcision shocked me! I imagine that it would shock other Christians, too, if they only knew about it. A type of radical circumcision performed by a doctor is what American Christians are used to! When told that it’s more hygenic to be circumcised, Christians parents may assume, like I did, that God had His reasons for wanting Abraham to be circumcised and therefore they have their son circumcised. Nobody realizes that the word ‘circumcision’ as it is used in the Bible represented a completely different procedure!

Since I am talking through this in the same order that I thought and learned about it, I began by musing about Abraham and his circumcision, but James brought it to my attention that that is the wrong place to start. We should start by looking at Adam in the Garden of Eden. When God created everything, He made it good. And, after sin entered the world, whenever God asked His people to make a sacrifice, He required the first-fruits of something meaningful, perfect, and good. As a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham, God wasn’t asking Abraham for an extra flap of skin, but something important that God Himself had created. Now, it is Jesus’ blood that seals the New Covenant. Circumcision is no longer a part of how God asks us to respond to Him, or a way to set God’s people apart. We rely on Jesus’ saving grace alone, and the fruits of the Spirit set us apart from the world. While Chrisitans are not forbidden from circumcision, it would be wrong to assume that it is necessary for physical purposes, as God’s men from Adam to Abraham show us, or spiritual purposes, as is made abundently clear in the New Testament.

Pros, Cons, Questions etc.

Now, I jumped past all of the pros and cons of circumcision that are aired and heatedly debated today. When you read the articles at the bottom of this blog, you’ll get an idea about what is being said about circumcision now a days. Here is what struck me: the amazing part about the original ‘milah’ circumcision is that it seems that it would incorporate most of the ‘claimed’ pros of being circumcised and the ‘claimed’ pros of being intact, while eliminating the ‘claimed’ cons of being circumcised and the ‘claimed’ cons of being intact! (I write ‘claimed’ because some of these are in direct contradiction to each other, studies that say one thing are later criticised, and you can find anything to support your view on the internet.)

We chose leave our boys intact. We saw no reason to circumcise, many reasons not to, and have had no problem with it so far. Hygene has been easy and natural. We didn’t feel right making that decision for our sons. If they want to be circumcised one day they can be, but it doesn’t work the other way around. If we ever did chose to circumcise because something was medically wrong, we would chose to have it done the ‘milah’ way. We have a few friends who take their babies to a Jewish Rabbi. Though he circumcises the ‘periah’ way, it is much more humane than the hospital routine. We would go to him and ask for only the ‘milah’ part of the circumcision. For a newborn, we would also wait until the baby is 8 days old and nursing and gaining weight well.

Here are a few of my thoughts and questions about circumcision. It has largely become a cultural thing. Should it be? We’re talking about a surgical procedure here! If it’s done for the sake of the culture, that means it’s done for appearance alone.

That video link from earlier was of a baby being circumcised without any form of pain relief. As a mother, I can’t stand the thought of that. Now the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that pain relief be used (this seems new since James doesn’t remember seeing that when he looked into the topic 5 years ago.) I wonder how safe those pain relief methods ultimately are for a newborn baby. I’m not sure how it exactly a Jewish Rabbi does it, but I think the baby is given some form of natural pain relief.

Another thought: one of the ‘pros’ of being circumcised is supposed to be a lesser chance of the man becoming infected with a sexually transmitted disease. I don’t think it’s a pro. STD’s have to do with lifestyle choices. If one man and one woman are being faithful, they aren’t going to be introducing new diseases to each other, and if the wife has an STD, she’s likely to give it to her husband whether or not he is circumcised. I don’t think wisdom calls us to prepare a baby for safer promiscuity. I’d like to raise my sons, by God’s grace, to honor marriage, and then let them make the decisions they are going make about circumcision and sex when they’re old enough to do so.

I also wonder why it isn’t as safe for an older child or a man to be circumcised since Abraham and many men throughout Israel’s history were grown when they were circumcised. James asked the question, could it just be becasue doctors today aren’t experienced at it? I’m not sure. I also don’t have enough faith in modern medicine to completely trust everything they say. Some things they say are true. Other things are made to seem so. Others have so many factors that it’s impossible to seperate them all. And many other statements about safety or necessity that were made in the past have now been recended because new information proved the statements untrue. Someday, the statements being made now will be considered out-of-date and disproven. People, especially parents, are responsible for navigating through a lot of information and trying to make the best decisions they can.

Here are the articles about circumcision. Some parts of them I agree with, some parts of them I disagree with. Some points contradict each other. Some of them are from reputable sources or written by people with degrees. Others are not. None of them have pictures of men. Now it’s time for you to draw your own conclusions.

I reallly respect what Dr. Sears (a man and his two sons all go by this name now) has to say about a lot of things. He doesn’t ever present a ‘one size fits all’ to families. He respects their differences and preferences and isn’t afraid to disagree with other more mainstream doctors.

I hope I still have at least a few of you reading to the end. This is a lot of stuff to think about, I know. Thanks for reading. I strongly believe that expecting parents, especially fathers, should give this topic some serious consideration and ask hard questions. Look up articles and get information yourself too! (Remember to be careful online ladies.) I hope you at least found the difference between circumcisions of Bible times and circumcisions given today interesting, as that is what really prompted my interest in the topic, and the writing of this blog.

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One Response

A man COULD be circumcised at any age, even an elderly man. I think the only reason why people say its less safe as an adult is that they usually put people under for the procedure, and that holds risks of its own.

I am glad to see that you are using the word intact, as I feel it is less biased way to discuss the topic.

Ultimately I see that your opinion on circumcision is largely a result of your attempt to blend the lessons from the old and new testament. The old testament thought it was necessary, the new testament said it had no value at all.

Do you know that Christians would NEVER circumcise their children until it became the ‘normal’ thing to do in America? Christians in other parts of the world simply do not do it. A pope in I believe the 1400s told everyone that if they still circumcised their infant, it meant they did not TRULY have faith in Jesus, so they shouldn’t do it.

Also, I appreciate your explanation of how ‘periah’ came about. But it is worth mentioning that the very tip of the foreskin is a very specialized and sensitive structure. Like a fingertip, it contains a HIGH concentration of nerve endings, the highest concentration of fine-touch nerve endings on the penis. To remove that would still be significant (not to mention extraordinarily painful), even if it were not as drastic as the ‘periah’ form.

Thank you for writing this article, I think you posted great links, and made some great points. I hope people will read it with open minds! I think it is wonderful that you decided to do so much careful research before making a decision like this about your child. You are certainly right that if you do it to your child, you take away their right to choose, and their right to own that foreskin.

I personally feel that religion is a personal decision. I don’t want someone tattooing my parent’s religion on my forehead… even if their Holy Book said they had too… Let them tattoo their own foreheads, I say.